Autumn Berries and Fruit

Tags

autumn, berries, blackthorn, colourful leaves, countryside, field maple, haws, Hawthorn, Holly, ivy, rosehips, sheep, sloes, Suffolk, walking, wild fruits

Richard asked me if I’d like to accompany him to the post-box down the lane.  He had a birthday card to post to his brother and also a notice to put on the village notice-board.  The weather was fine, though cloudy and we hadn’t walked anywhere together for a few weeks.  I quickly put on my coat and walking shoes and we set off.

The hedge on the opposite side of the lane was pale green and orange.

The hedges still had a few leaves left on them. This is a Field Maple (Acer campestre) hedge.  Not in focus, but I liked the colours.

A gap in the hedge further along the lane gave us a sight of the tower belonging to All Saints church.  It is surrounded by trees, most of which have lost their leaves now.  The field has been sown with barley or wheat which has germinated and will continue to grow on milder days all through the winter.

All Saints church in the distance

Some of the more sheltered Field Maple trees still had leaves.

This fine-looking old house near us has been empty for some time.

Richard proudly demonstrates his posting technique!

We met a neighbour and chatted with her for some time.  I admired the fine cherry tree in her front garden.

Our neighbour’s beautiful cherry tree.

We walked on to the notice-board and then decided to continue down the lane.

A row of Italian Alders (Alnus cordata) were planted some years ago as a wind-break along the edge of a field.  The cones are much larger than our native Alder cones.

Italian Alder cones

Our local stream, The Beck, has been dry for months.  We have not had enough rainfall this year.

The Beck

Another pretty hedge

The Guelder-rose trees (Viburnum opulus) have been beautiful this autumn! I have never seen so much viburnum fruit before!

Here is another Guelder-rose.

This is a Spindle tree (Euonymus europaeus) in the hedgerow

Here is the pretty pink and orange spindle fruit

This is a picture of the lane along which we walked

There were a few sloes left on the Blackthorns (Prunus spinosa)

A few Common Hawthorn berries (haws) too (Crataegus monogyna)

A view over the hedge to the fields beyond. The skies were clearing.

This tree-trunk was covered with Ivy stems (Hedera helix). It attaches itself to trees, fences and walls by short roots and can completely cover tall trees. A Dog Rose (Rosa canina) stem hung in front of the tree.

Rosehip

Bird’s nests are easier to see now that the leaves are falling from the trees

Puddles were full of leaves and reflections

We walked through St Margaret South Elmham churchyard and Richard sat for a while to rest his back.

A late rose was blooming

The Holly (Ilex aquifolium) had a few berries on it

Our Blackberries (Bramble) (Rubus fruticosus agg.) were very poor this year because of the low rainfall. Even the mice and birds didn’t chose to eat these ones which have been left to shrivel on the vine.

I am not sure whether these fruits are Blackthorn or Bullace (a type of wild plum). 

Autumn leaves

Sheep were being grazed on the common at the end of our lane

This sheep was happy to stop and stare

We soon arrived back home, having been away a lot longer than we had originally intended.

This was a walk we took a fortnight ago and after a couple of frosts and some strong wind last night most of the remaining leaves have fallen from the trees.  The countryside looks ready for winter now.

My music choice today is ‘Somewhere in my Heart’ by Aztec Camera.  There is no special reason for my choice except I like it and am amazed it is thirty years old!

Thanks for visiting!

This and That – Part 2

Tags

Bee, blossom, cow parsley, Crabapples, dandelion, field maple, flowers, gardens, ground-ivy, Hawthorn, horse chestnut, Hoverfly, insects, jonquils, Lady's Smock, Maytime, miniature Tulip, narcissus, pasque flower, Pear, pieris, saxifrage, shrubs, St Mark's fly, Suffolk, trees, wild cherry

This post includes the better photos I took at home during the first half of May.

I have a few miniature scented Tulips. I have no idea what they are called or even when I got them though I think they are about 18 years old. I had a selection of red, orange and yellow ones but all that’s left are the red ones.

These jonquils are tiny and the flowers bob about on their narrow stems like yellow butterflies. Each flower is only about 2 inches across.

The Pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris ‘Alba’ )in my garden came out well after Easter this year. Not only was Easter early but the weather was cold and the flowers sensibly stayed as buds until the time was right.

I love this pretty pink Saxifrage!

Wild Cherry blossom (Prunus avium) with a visiting bee

Wild Cherry blossom. I like the green-bronze colour of the new leaves.

Pale yellow double Narcissus

Pear ‘Concorde’ blossom.  This pear is supposed to be a dessert pear but by the time it is soft enough to eat it is already rotting in the centre.  Perhaps our climate isn’t suitable for it?  We harvest the pears before they have started to soften and we cook them or we prepare them for the freezer.

Pear blossom with a visiting Hoverfly.  The lichen is doing quite well too with its orange fruiting bodies.

These are St. Mark’s-flies (Bibio marci) doing what flies do in the spring. The female is the upper fly and she has smoky-grey wings and a small head. The lower fly is the male and he has silvery wings and a larger head. Both sexes have spines on their front legs at the tip of the tibia. You can just see this on the female’s front leg. These flies fly weakly and slowly and dangle their legs as though the effort of flying is almost too much for them. They are called St. Mark’s-flies because they usually appear on or around St. Mark’s day which is April 25th.  This photo was taken on 2nd May – it was a cold spring!

Lady’s-smock or Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) – a member of the cabbage family

New leaves on my variegated Pieris ‘Forest Flame’

Crabapple species blossom. Standing under this weeping tree I am almost over-powered by the scent of roses and the buzzing of bees.

These are the English Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) I am trying to establish next to the weeping crabapple. I have put canes alongside them to remind us not to mow them until the seeds have set and the leaves have died. I am also hoping that the canes will stop the deer from trampling the plants.

A beautiful Common Dandelion ‘clock’ (Taraxacum officinale agg.)

Crabapple ‘Evereste’ blossom

Crabapple ‘Harry Baker’ blossom

Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

The Horse-chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) with its flower ‘candles’

Field Maple flowers (Acer campastre)

Common Hawthorn flower buds (Crataegus monogyna)

Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) (or as it is called here in Suffolk, Sheep’s Parsley) with a fly.  I am very fond of Cow Parsley and the sight of masses of it in flower along the lanes makes me happy.

Here is another song that features a wonderful trombone solo and a fantastic brass riff too!  This is a very old recording and it is also an uncommon arrangement for this song.

Thanks for visiting!

Autumn in a Suffolk Lane

Tags

amphibian, autumn leaf colour, church, common toad, Edith Cavell, Elder, field maple, Fish Slapping Dance, fungi, Great Tit, Halesworth, Herring Festival, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano, Monty Python, nest, Norwich Cathedral, picture-wing fly, shaggy inkcap, sunset, trees, wild bird

This post and the next will have assorted photographs of things I have seen.  I’ll also mention briefly a few things I have done.  The photos are inserted in chronological order as I can’t think of anything better!

Toadstools on the lawn at the surgery.

A couple of weeks ago I had to attend the doctor’s surgery a few times in one week.  I collected my medication, I had my usual monthly blood test with a test for cholesterol which meant fasting from 10 pm the evening before, and I had my flu injection.  All on different days.  I noticed these toadstools after my blood test but unfortunately I had left my camera in the car.  The following morning I took these photos after my flu jab.

These are Shaggy Inkcaps (Coprinus comatus) also known as Lawyer’s Wig and unfortunately most of them are past their best.

The early morning light made it difficult to photograph them and they had deteriorated significantly overnight.

The white fungi are emerging Inkcaps but I can’t identify the dark brown mushrooms.

Some of you may remember that our parcels box was taken over by Great Tits in the spring and we had to seal it shut so that the birds were not disturbed.  I believe the brood was successful.  Richard dismantled the box last week as it was rotting and we had a look at the nest inside.

Great Tit (Parus major) nest.

We looked closely at what had been used.  Please click on each photo to get a description of the materials used.

Dried grass and lots and lots of moss

Bits and pieces of anything soft. I recognise lint/fluff from two of my pullovers here.

Sheep’s wool

Feathers

The work that went into constructing this nest is astounding.

This is a Common Toad (Bufo bufo) that I saw crossing our drive.  Fortunately it took it’s time and I was able to run indoors and fetch my camera before it disappeared.

Common Toad

Autumn colour.  A Field Maple (Acer campestre)

Last week was a week of sunny warm days and cool nights.  The trees and plants began to show autumnal tints.

Elder (Sambucus nigra) leaves have turned pink

A wonderful sunset seen from the back of our house

A ‘picture-wing’ fly. Possibly from the Herina group.

This little fly was in our kitchen some nights ago.  I took this photo when it landed on the window blind.  It was only a few millimetres in length.

Richard and I noticed posters up in Halesworth announcing the Herring Festival.  This is to take place in The Cut, the centre for the arts in the town.  The herring industry has been in decline for some time and Richard and I wondered what went on at the festival (not ever having gone).  We remembered this……

I haven’t been able to attend our local churches very often recently.  I have been taking my mother to her church once a fortnight to enable me to go to church with Richard every other week.  We took Elinor to the morning service at Norwich Cathedral a couple of weeks ago as she enjoys these services.  The Cathedral was preparing to hold a number of services to commemorate the life of Edith Cavell.

My music choice for this post is one of my favourite arias sung by my favourite mezzo-soprano, the late, great Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

Thanks for visiting!

May’s End – Part 2

Tags

Brown Hare, Bugle, Common Comfrey, cow parsley, Creeping Buttercup, Dandelion clock, field maple, garlic mustard, Greater Stitchwort, ground-ivy, Hawthorn, Hedgerow Crane's-bill, Herb-Robert, Meadow Buttercup, orange-tip butterfly, red campion, rowan, Suffolk, trees, Tufted Forget-me-not, wild flowers, Wood Avens

This post will be featuring the wild life photographs I have taken away from home, either on short walks to the postbox for example, or when I have stopped the car having seen something special.

The Cow Parsley has been spectacular this year and especially so on the lane I drive down on my way to Norwich each day via Bungay.  I was glad I took the following photos a couple of weeks ago as the road is now closed for road works and I hate to think what has happened to all these lovely flowers.

Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) and Red Campion (Silene dioica)

The Red Campion has never been better in all the time we have lived here too.

Cow Parsley and Red Campion

Red Campion

Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants.

Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea)

This plant is a member of the Pink family and is a shade lover.  It shines luminously in the twilight.  Its stems are very weak and need the support of other plants to gain any height.  The stems snap easily too, and according to the ancient ‘doctrine of signatures’ this means that the plant was thought to be able to help heal broken bones.  The Greek words for whole ‘holos’ and bone ‘osteon’ are incorporated in the botanical name.  The common name of Stitchwort refers not to mending but to another kind of stitch – the horrible pain in the side and similar ailments.  A preparation of stitchwort and acorns taken in wine was a standard remedy.  Stitchwort was regarded, at one time, along with White Campion and Field Poppy, as a ‘thunder flower’ – the picking of which provoked thunder and lightening.

Herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum)

Herb-Robert has orange pollen.

Herb-Robert with Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

Bugle (Ajuga reptans) seems to be growing everywhere this year too. I don’t remember seeing any at all last year.

Bugle was thought of as a cure-all by medieval herbalists.  It healed all kinds of wounds, thrusts and stabs, as well as ulcers and broken bones.  It was also highly recommended for delirium tremens brought on by too much alcohol.  It has been called one of the mildest and best narcotics in the world.  The Latin name Ajuga and the common name Bugle appear to be corruptions of one or more of the plants earlier names of ‘abuga’, ‘abija’ and ‘bugula’.

Jack-by-the-Hedge or Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

This is the only British member of the cabbage family to smell very strongly of garlic.  The smell of the small white flowers isn’t particularly pleasant but it attracts midges and hoverflies.  The plant is self-pollinating.  In June the pale green caterpillars of the Orange-tip butterfly can be seen feeding on the long green seed pods from which they are almost indistinguishable.

This is a photo of an Orange-tip butterfly feeding on the nectar from Cow Parsley. The camouflage is very good!

Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

This plant spreads very quickly with long-rooted runners.

This is one of the fields next to the lane I drive down every day. It has a lot of buttercups in it (probably Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) )

Another view from the lane.

This shows the mass of Cow Parsley on the verge of the lane with two grand-looking Horse-chestnut trees (Aesculus hippocastanum) on the corner.

Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale agg. ) fruit or ‘clock’. 

Wood Avens or Herb Bennet (Geum urbanum)

I think this may be Tufted Forget-me-not (Myosotis laxa)

This is the lane as it goes up a gentle rise towards St Margaret’s church.

Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)

Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Hedgerow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pyrenaicum)

Hedgerow Crane’s-bill with Cow Parsley and Ground-ivy

Field Maple (Acer campastre) flowers.

Rowan or Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia). This is a photo I forgot to include in Part 1 as this is a tree in our garden.

Lastly, I include a couple of photos (not good) of a young Hare, or Leveret (as young Hares are called) that I saw in our garden yesterday.  It was very curious, investigating everything.  It kept on the move all the time, which made photographing it very difficult, suddenly racing off in one direction only to come racing back again next minute.  It appeared to run for the joy of running!

Thank-you for visiting!

A Good Day

Tags

barley, Common Whitebeam, Early Purple Spotted Orchid, English Oak, field maple, Lady's Smock, Lesser Whitethroat, Oak-apples, orange-tip butterfly, Red Clover, Red Horse Chestnut, Red May, St Michaels church, St Peter's church, stag-headed, the Beck, Turtle Doves, Willow Warbler, Wych Elm

I had a very good day yesterday.  The weather was much better than it had been for a week and I was nearly back to normal after my cold.  I hung some washing out on the line in the garden and then set off for Bungay where I had to get some shopping.  Just as I was nearing Flixton I noticed some birds at the side of the road, mainly woodpigeons but among them were a pair of Turtle Doves.  I was so pleased to see them I nearly shouted out loud!  Turtle Doves are becoming so rare, not only because of the reduction of places to nest in this country but also because of the dangers they face during migration – being shot for sport for example – and the lack of suitable places to spend the winter because of deforestation in Africa.  Even if we get no Turtle Doves in our garden this year I am happy that there are at least one pair in this area!  Their song epitomises high summer for me – a lovely drowsy, purring noise. We used to get them every year and they stayed around until the end of August.  In recent years we have had a Turtle Dove sing for a day or so and then go off elsewhere in search of a mate.  Last year they didn’t turn up at all.  Many people believed that was because of the terrible spring we had had.  Turtle Doves had arrived in this country and then we had the late snow and frost which killed some birds and others just turned round and went back to France.

I went to my usual car park in the centre of town and noticed all the trees planted around the car park had come into flower.  They are all Red May trees – Red Hawthorns – and look so pretty with their deep pink flowers.

 

Red Mays are not as popular here as where I grew up in Kent.  My father thought they were wonderful and planted one in one of the houses we had when I was a girl.  As I walked about the town I remembered having seen another red-blossomed tree recently and thought I would go and have a closer look at it later in the day.

I found the opportunity to go for a quick walk in the early afternoon.  The day had warmed up considerably but there were still a few black clouds around.  As I walked down to the end of our lane and out into the next I listened to a Willow Warbler singing in the top branches of a group of trees nearby.  The Willow Warbler is another bird whose song I couldn’t do without – it has a sweet song of descending notes in a minor key.  Weep, weep, weep, weep it says and makes my heart swell and I find I am near to tears at the beauty of it.  It is another bird whose numbers are reducing drastically.  Again, we used to hear them all summer long but not any more.  I hope this one finds a mate and stays to sing for me.  I stood under the Field Maple tree it was singing in and eventually saw it in the top canopy.  It sang and then busily flitted from twig to twig in search of food and then sang again.  I tried to photograph it but wasn’t quick enough.

This is the result.  Can you see it?  No, neither can I.

On the corner of our lane where it meets the other lane is a wide area of common land and a couple of ornamental trees have been planted there.  One is a Sweet Chestnut which is only just coming into leaf and the other is a Whitebeam, a native tree but not one that usually grows in this part of the country.

Common Whitebeam tree

Common Whitebeam blossom

Common Whitebeam blossom

The grass of this patch of common land was covered in Lady’s Smock flowers and a female Orange Tip butterfly was feeding from them.

The red-blossomed tree that I had remembered seeing is a Red Horse Chestnut and it had been planted only a couple of hundred yards down this other lane.  To get to it I had to cross yet another wide area of common land and in doing so I was surprised to see an Early Purple Spotted Orchid in the grass.  This one was a little past its best but I rather liked the colour combination of the petals.

There was more Bugle or Ajuga flowers and some Red Clover.

Red Clover

I love the pale markings on Red Clover leaves.  I am also fascinated by the grass in the photo which is just about to flower.  It looks like a row of tiny balls are packed into the grass stem or a lot of minuscule snails.

The Red Horse Chestnut is a fairly young tree so I was able to photograph the flowers easily.

A Red Horse Chestnut is a hybrid between a Horse Chestnut and a Red Buckeye.  On the way back to the road I found another Early Purple Spotted Orchid.

 

Our lane is looking very nice at the moment.

On my way back home I heard another summer bird but this was one I hadn’t heard before.  It’s song was a little like a part of a Chaffinch’s or a Yellowhammer’s song but without the end flourish.  It also had a few little sweet quiet notes to start off the song and they sounded very much like a Warbler.  When I got back I listened to a few of my bird recordings and found I had been listening to a Lesser Whitethroat.

I managed to get all my washing dried outside which was really good and took some more photos of the garden while I fed the birds.  I had started on a great heap of mending by the time R came home from work.  He didn’t seem to want his evening meal straight away so I suggested a walk across the fields.

This is one of many ancient oaks we saw on our walk.  Once they get to about seven or eight hundred years old they start to die back a little.  A little like us humans:  when we get to a certain age we start to shrink a bit too.  When they get dead branches sticking out of the top of the canopy they are described as being ‘stag-headed’.

A young Horse Chestnut.

View over the fields.

A field of ripening barley.

A Sycamore tree with flowers.

The Beck

Bridge over the Beck.

Views across the fields on the other side of the Beck.

The lane going up the hill from St Peter’s Washes.

Another ancient oak tree.  I think this one’s trunk must be about twelve feet in circumference – it must easily be about a thousand years old.  I must try to bring a tape measure with me next time we walk this way and see if I can get through the hedge and measure it.

I love standing under trees and looking up through the branches.  Trees are the most magnificent awe-inspiring things.

We looked down across the fields in the direction from which we’d come and then down the lane.  Many people think that East Anglia has no hills and no hedges.  This proves that we do have both though the hills aren’t very steep or high.

St Peter’s church over the field.

 

Fruits on an Oak Tree.

The top of the tower of St Michael’s church can just be seen above the trees.

More views across the fields from the top of the lane.

The signpost at the end of the lane.

Another view from the top.

An oak-apple with fruits

An oak-apple.

This is a picture of a Lesser Whitethroat!  It is just below and just to the left of centre and has a curly leaf over its face.  You’ll have to take my word for it that it really was a Lesser Whitethroat.

A Wych Elm and fruits.

Toadstools

Late sunshine.

We walked back home quite content and I cooked our evening meal.

 

A Walking Week Part One

Tags

Adrian Bell, bird-scarer cannon, Blue Tit, buttercup, comfrey, cow parsley, cows, cut-leaved crane's-bill, daisy, fairy ring, field maple, fish, Germander Speedwell, goosegrass, great yellow-cress, greater spotted woodpecker, Greater Stitchwort, greefinch, Hawthorn, Herb-Robert, Lords and Ladies, May, orange-tip butterfly, perch, pineapple weed, pond, red campion, ribwort, sheep, St Mark's fly, stinging nettle, wedding ring, wild rose

I have managed to do a little walking this week and have enjoyed it very much.  Monday and Tuesday’s walking was mainly round the shops so doesn’t count as enjoyable walking.  For some stupid reason I mistook the time of E’s hair appointment and we arrived in Halesworth an hour early on Monday.  E kindly said she was happy to wait for an hour at the hairdressers but I thought she might go mad with boredom so we did the supermarket shopping and then I got more petrol for the car.  She then went for her hair appointment and while she was there I called in at the jewellers to see if anything can be done to my wedding ring to stop it cutting into my finger.  Twenty years ago we hadn’t thought that my ring would wear away so quickly.  Apparently, we chose the wrong ring – a 9 carat D-profile ring – and should have had a round-profile ring and something of a better quality.  Well, too late now!  This is my wedding ring, bought for me by my husband and blessed at our Marriage Blessing Service.  We weren’t able to be married in church as we had both been married before, but we had a beautiful Blessing Service after our Registry Office wedding.  The jeweller said either we could buy a new ring or have my one built up which would cost the same as a new ring.  A dilemma which we are still thinking about.

Both Monday and Tuesday were mainly cloudy days and no good for drying washing outside so I decorated the inside of the house with wet clothes.  I had more shopping to do in Bungay so drove there on Tuesday afternoon and I made my purchases.  On the way home I got stuck in a traffic jam!  This is quite out of the ordinary, living where we live.  The vehicle in front of me was a supermarket delivery van and not much holds them up usually!  I couldn’t see what the problem was as these vans are quite wide, so I edged round a bit and saw….

  

The cows took their time to leave their field and amble down the road to the farmyard.  The stockman had a busy time trying to get the cows out of people’s gardens where there were lots of interesting plants and trees to eat.  I took the photos with my phone and then enlarged the pictures so the quality isn’t that good.

E asked if we could watch a DVD together during the evening which I thought would be nice but no-one thought to tell my eyes to watch too.  As soon as I sat down they became extremely heavy and so I dozed most of the way through the film to the disapproval of my daughter.  This is not the first time I have done this.

Wednesday is ‘shopping with mother’ day which went very well as Mum was on top form and we had a real laugh together.  The weather on Wednesday was lovely too – a hazy start and then lots of sunshine.  When I had had some lunch at home I decided to walk down the lane to take advantage of the bright weather and to see what was to be seen.

Lots of stinging nettles and goosegrass.  Goosegrass is a relative of coffee and quinine and has many medicinal uses.  At one time the seeds were roasted and used as a coffee substitute and apparently the young shoots are edible and can be cooked in soups as a vegetable.  All I know about it is that if I touch it, it brings me out in a rash!  The seeds are hooked and stick to hair and clothes – hence the plant’s other name of Cleavers.

Stinging Nettles are very useful, if painful plants too.  They can be used for making cloth, food and medicine.  My plant book says that the Roman belief that stinging nettles cured rheumatism still persists in Britain.  I can say that there is some truth in this as when I am stung on my hands my rheumatic joints there become less painful.  I can’t say I would care to roll about in them unclothed as some people recommend!

These are Hawthorn flowers – May blossom.  ‘Ne’er cast a clout til May be out’ – either don’t leave off your winter clothes until the end of the month of May, or, don’t leave off your winter clothes until the May blossom is on the trees.

This is the wild rose and already there are large flower buds as you can see.  This is early, as the rose usually flowers at the end of May and into June.

A fine crop of old equipment and other rubbish in this field.  At the beginning of Adrian Bell’s book ‘Corduroy’ he talks of the Suffolk farmers’ habit of leaving implements in corners of fields or yards covered in nettles until they are needed for some particular function.  They are then returned ‘to some out-of-the-way corner, to be a sleeping Gulliver for the grass again’.

These are the boys – male sheep, tups.  A bit stinky – sleeping and snoring in the sun.  Wandering about having something to eat now and then – not a care in the world.

 

Common comfrey.  In medieval times the roots of this plant were dug up in the spring and grated to produce a sludge which was packed round broken limbs.  It hardened to a consistency similar to that of Plaster of Paris.

A view over the fields.

Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill.

Great Yellow-cress.

The lane.

Herb-Robert.  In the Middle Ages they believed that a plant showed how it could be used through its colour or shape – the doctrine of signatures.  This plant turns a fiery red in autumn so they thought it should be used in the treatment of blood disorders.  It has a strange odour and in some places it is known as ‘Stinking Bob’.

Daisies.

Daisies and Germander Speedwell.

Greater Stitchwort.

A Buttercup.

Pineapple Weed.

A female orange-tip butterfly.  Note the lovely green-marbled underwing.

The signpost at the end of our lane.

A male orange-tip butterfly.  I have been trying for over a week to photograph these fast flying butterflies!

Lords and Ladies.  This is specially for Heather!  At last these strange plants are flowering here.  I have some in my garden but they are hidden by tall grass and difficult to photograph.

Cow and calves.

This is the pond at the side of the lane.  I’m not sure what the fish are – perhaps perch? – but we have the same fish in our big pond.

The pond next to the lane.

Field maple leaves and flowers.

A St Mark’s fly.  They usually appear about the same time of year as the Feast of St Mark – 25th April.

R and I went out for a walk across the fields when he returned home from his trip to Gloucestershire that evening.

Red Campion and cow-parsley growing at the end of our lane.

A Red Campion flower.

Ribwort flowers – Turkish Caps,

A ‘fairy ring’ caused by toadstools.

A bird-scarer cannon.

More stitchwort.

St Peter’s Washes.

I’ll end with some photos of birds seen in my garden during the past week.

A female Greater-Spotted Woodpecker.

A bluetit.

Male and female Greenfinches